Omaha daily bee., 1887-02-27
BRlSBlN'S BOYS IN BLUE.
An Open Letter to Young Men Desiring
to Enlist
SOLDIERS SUNSHINE AND SHADE
Makeup of the Army-Military Ser
vice. Pay and Advantageous.
ties at Fort Robinson
Valuable Suggestions.

y
desire to enlist in the United States
army. They want information about the
service, length Of term, pay, allowances
and advantages to be derived from
term OF service in the army. OF course,
to answer all private letters and cover
the inquiries fully, would be an utter i'm
possibility, and a public letter in a
general way is the only method of giving
the desired information.
he BEE reaches all classes of people,
but what Is written for the BEE
is only the starting of the in.
formation on Its travels over the
country. Look, in day or two and you
will find this letter or parts OF IL copied
INTO the Chicago, St Louis, New York
and Philadelphia papers, and from these
again into hundreds of country papers
There is certain Information the people
desire, and this information travels and
travels until it gets everywhere.
To illustrate How many young men
coming soldiers? Probably a million.
And how many of these know about the
army i'll which they wish TO enlist? Prob
ably not one in a hundred. Let me then
give plain and comprehensive letter on
the army, and start it on its travels with
the kind of information the people desire
to have, and especially our young men.
OUR MILITARY MAKEUP.
The army of the United States is com
posed of 5000 enlisted men and 2, IL
officers.
They are divided into ten regiments of
cavalry, five regiments OF artillery. twen-
ty-tiye regiments OF infantry, corps of
engineers, signal corps and an ordnance
department.
an
officers; 1850 artillerymen with 2S5 Off
GERS: 2,625 infantrymen with SO officers;
the rest are in the signal corps, engi-
neers and ordnance. There are about
800 enlisted men In the signal service,
400 in the ordnance and $50 in the en-
gineers' battalion.
A regiment of cavalry is composed of
TH1 enlisted men and A commissioned
officers.
A regiment of artillery is composed of
$50 enlisted men and 81 officers.
regiment of infantry is composed of
COS enlisted men ana 81 officers.
A company of cavalry, is composed of
(average) siNtysiX enlisted men and
three officers, viz: A captain, first lieu
tenant and second lieutenant.
A regiment of artillery is composed of
ligntbatter;es and heavy batteries.
A light battery has siNty-fye enlisted
me nanG five officers, VIZ: One captain,
tenants.
heavy battery has forty enlisted men,
and four officers, viz: One captain, two
first lleutenants and one second lieuten-
ant.
A company of infantry has (average)
fifty enlisted men and three officers, viz:
One captain, one first lieutenant and one
second lieutenant.
A company OF engineers has 132 en-
listed men and three officers-the same
as infantry and cavalry. One of the
companies of engineers has only fifty
men and three officers. 1t the Orphan
company OF the battalion, and only
young men who are orphans can enlist
III it.
In cavalry company there are one
first sergeant, five sergeants, called
duty sergeants, four corporals, two
trumpeters, one farrier, one blacksmith,
one saddler, one wagner, and the rest
are privates.
In artillery, there are in each light
battery, besides the officers, one first
sergeant, six duty sergeants, four cor
porals, two musicians, two artifcers, one
wagner and the rest are priyates.
In heavy battery, besides the officers,
there are one first sergeant, four duty
sergeants, four corporals, two musicians,
two artiticers, one wagner and the rest
are privates.
In infantry, there are in each company
besides its officers, one first sergeant,
four duty sergeants, four corporals, two
musicians and the rest are privates.
In the engineer battalion, there are in
each of the strong companies, besides its
officers, nine duty sergeants, nine corpo-
rails. two musicians and the rest are pri-
Yates.
The Orphan" company of engineers
has, besides its officers, five duty sergeants,
for corporals, two musicians and the rest
are privates.
Every regiment, besides its company
officers, has a colonel, lieutenant colonel,
three majors, except infantry which
has only one major one reglmental ad-
jutant and one regimental quartermaster,
the two latter bearing the rank of first
lieutenant and the style of cardinals.
Besides the sergeants in the com panies,
each regiment has sergeant major, a
quartermaster sergeant, one chief mu-
clan, one saddler sergeant and one chief
trumpeter.
ENLISTMENT AND PAY.
The term of enlistment in all arms Of
the service is five years.
ANY able bodied man between the ages
of 81 and 95 can enlist in the army.
For artillery they must be not less than
r feet inches high and wei0- not less
popH1s.
For cavalry they must be not less
than hye feet four inches nor more than
five feet ten inches, and weigh not more
than 1876. All men must be of good char
acter, sober and intelligent when en-
listed.
For infantry a man must be five feet
four inches high. and weigh not less than
100 pounds nor more than 1870 pounds.
The pay of soldiers is as follows Ser
geant major of cavalry, S23 per month
$s76 per year, 81 $50 per enlistment. Ser
geant, majors OF artillery and infantry
receive the same as sergeant majors of
cavalry; regimental quartermasters, ser
geants of cavalry, artillery and infantry
receive the same as sergeant majors OF
cavalry. The pay of principal musician
of all arms Is as follows; twenty-five
dollars per week, s264 per year, 81 ,33C
per enlistment. Chief trumpeters, sad
dler sergeants Of cavalry and first ser.
geants of company OF cavalry, infantry
ana artillery receive each s3i per month
$iOs per year, 5000 per enlist
ment- Commissary sergeants ol
posts and quartermasters, ser
geants OF posts receive the same
pay as ordnance sergeants of posts. Hos
pltal stewards Of the first class reeeiy,